


Clueless

by billieonholiday



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: College AU, Frat Boy Niall, M/M, lilo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-13
Updated: 2013-08-09
Packaged: 2017-12-14 19:59:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/840794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/billieonholiday/pseuds/billieonholiday
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Louis thinks he's probably in love with Mr. California Frat Boy Niall, but Niall turns out to be not who he thought he was, and neither does that new guy Liam, but in a better way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Lou's walking along the beach, focused on the book he's got in his hands, when an object bounces to a stop at his legs. He looks up, seeing he's stumbled across a beach volleyball game, and looks around for the owner of the ball. _Oh god, am I going to have to throw this thing? Please no._ Louis hasn't touched a sports ball since sixth grade. He's pretty sure his throwing skills have all but disappeared, if they even existed in the first place. He scoops it up and hands it to a guy who comes running across the sand, a guy who's all blonde hair and white teeth and blue eyes. Lou's mouth all but falls open. “Thanks,” the boy says, giving Louis an undeniably flirty grin before turning his heel and jogging back to his friends. 

“No...problem,” Lou finally forces out even though they guy is gone by now. Delayed reaction and a loss for words. This is a whole new experience for Lou. Who _was_ that? He wants to go over an introduce himself - if there's one thing Louis is not, it's shy - but the guy is in the middle of a volleyball game and anyway, it would look weird to double back and hang around until it's over. So he keeps walking but turns his head as he walks and can't really seem to tear his eyes away from Mr. Bonafide Cali Boy. Louis nearly trips over a sandcastle. His book is all but forgotten. 

Then suddenly someone’s ringing him. He fishes his phone out of his pocket. “Hey, Lou.” Of course it's Harry, hipster that he is, the only one who actually calls Louis instead of texts. 

“Hey, mate," Louis says. 

“What’s up?"

“I…” Lou considered asking him about the blonde boy, just a, ‘oh, hey, so I saw this kid who seemed kind of familiar’ type thing, because Harry knows everyone. Literally everyone. But he chickens out at the last second. “I’m at the beach.”

“With who?”

“Myself.” 

“Sounds boring. So I’m having a party.” 

“Oh yeah?” This should be good. Harry hasn't thrown anything in a while. 

“You wanna come?”

“I’ve got nothing better to do, mate. Who else is coming?”

“Everyone.” Louis can practically see Harry’s grin. “See your ass there at 9."


	2. Chapter 2

You can hear the thumping bass from a long way away. It’s hot out, and Harry’s strung the trees with white fairy lights. Nice touch. People are starting to fill the lawn and spill out the front door, milling around on the glass with those red cups in their hands. Louis makes his way up the driveway, glancing around. He recognizes some people and says hi to a few more, but there's really one person he's hoping to find. It's not impossible that Blonde Boy will be here - in fact it's actually pretty likely. He squeezes himself through a crowd of people into the house, and weaves his way to the kitchen. "Louuuu!" calls a voice. It's Harry, leaning against the kitchen counter with someone, and Lou secretly gives a little fist pump and a _Yes! ___as recognizes the blonde guy. He's wearing a long red tank and scuffed shorts; tanned skin and long lean muscles.

Lou greets Harry, who, predictably, is already half drunk. Louis feels the boy's eyes on him, doing the once-over. Lou has to remind himself to act cool. This is so freaking weird for him - he’s so not used to being blown over like this. Normally - he's not even going to try and deny it - it's Louis that is doing the blowing over. “You guys ever met?” Harry asks, nodding to the boy. 

“Yeah, mate, I think I recognize you,” says the blonde with the same flirty grin as earlier. “I’m Niall.” 

Harry opens his mouth just as the sound of breaking glass came from one of the other rooms. “Oh, shit,” He mutters, stalking off with his beer in hand. Louis watches him go and then turns back to Niall. 

“So you recognize me, huh?” Louis replies, with his own little grin. He loves this, this game of flirtation. Louis isn’t shy. He’s confidant, sometimes too confidant for his own good. Normally Louis stays detached from it all; he doesn't have to work too hard to get people to flirt with him. Here, though, the blonde guy seems to be just as confident as he is. It's all kind of interesting, from a psychological point of view. Louis's not taking a psych minor for nothing. 

Niall is such a stereotype – college frat boy, skateboards, he even has the Obey snapback down to a tee – but Louis can’t seem to notice anything except how freaking hot he is. They talk more, meaningless stuff, and they have to lean in close to hear each other over the music. Louis' in the middle of explaining his psych minor when he notices Niall's eyes following someone behind Louis. Louis trails off as Niall reaches out and snags a boy walking past him. “Liam!” 

The guy stops, a little reluctantly. “What, Niall?” 

“Liam, meet my new friend.” Lou recognizes the boy vaguely from around campus, but has never actually spoken to him. He’s tall, well built, brown eyes. Louis can’t help but notice as Niall’s hand curls around the back of Liam’s neck with an air of subtle possessiveness. Jealousy parades through Lou’s mind. Who is this guy? Just as subtly as the hand on the back of his neck, Liam shifts away from Niall, and Niall looks a little annoyed. 

“Hey,” Liam turns to smile at Louis, who doesn't return the smile, just raises his eyebrows and nods. 

“Yeah, Louis knows how to party, unlike someone here.” Niall continues, his lips lifted in a smirk. Liam rolls his eyes and starts to walk away, but Niall catches his wrist. “Hey, I’m sorry, man.” He pouts a little, doesn’t let go of the wrist. “You’re still my designated driver, right?” 

Liam hesitates, staring at Niall. Then, “Yeah, whatever, of course. Nice meeting you, Louis,” he says. 

“You’re friends with him?” Louis asks as he walks away. He can't stop the jealousy, even though he knows it's ridiculous. There was something odd about the whole exchange, something off, and he doesn't know what to think. “He doesn’t seem like your type.” 

“We go way back,” Niall says dismissively, leading Lou to wonder exactly what that means. “Another beer?” 

There had to be more to that story, but apart from the flare of jealousy, Louis doesn’t really care all of a sudden. All that matters to him right now is that he’s flirting with an insanely hot boy who seems to be flirting back. Louis accepts the second beer, then grins and leans forward a little. “Are you trying to get me drunk?” 

“Maybe,” said Niall, and then laughs. “Seriously, mate. We need to loosen up.” 

Two beers later and the two of them are dancing together to some intelligible bass tune. Louis knows how to dance, but they’re both drunk and at that stage neither of them really cared, so it’s more of a combination of grind and shuffle than anything. It’s crowded and too hot in the room, and all of a sudden Louis is pressed against the wall with Niall’s lips at his ear, saying something. Lou shivers as Niall’s lips cruise down the side of his neck, still mumbling. “What?” Louis asks. They can barely hear each other over the music. Niall just grins and takes his wrist, leading him along and fuck, Louis can’t fucking believe this is happening. Well, he can, because he’s done this same thing so many different times, but the difference is that this time he actually feels giddy. He wants Niall. 

The room they end up is almost as loud as downstairs, with bass pumping through the walls, and then they’re on Harry’s bed, which always feels kind of gross, but Niall’s mouth is pressed on Louis’, and Louis’s hands are twined around his neck and Niall is saying things under his breath that sound like _fucking hot ___and _want you_ and Louis is just trying to keep up, fiercely kissing back. He’s not used to this, to not being in control. He likes it. 

The rest is a drunken blur. 


	3. Chapter 3

Oh, god. Louis opens his eyes, crusty with sleep, his eyelashes sticking. At first things are blurry and he’s totally disoriented. It's only a second later he becomes aware of the pounding headache and the thick saliva in his mouth. Fuck. Hangover. 

“Niall?” he croaks, lifting his head and seeing a body moving around in Harry's kitchen. He realizes he’s on the couch and wonders vaguely how he got there.

“It’s me. We met last night, remember?” Things comes into focus and Louis sees Liam, Niall’s friend. 

“Oh.” Lou feels like shit and doesn’t even bother trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice. “Where’d he go? Niall, I mean.”

Liam’s making something on the stove; Lou can hear sizzling. “I dunno. Left, I guess.” 

That stings a little. Niall hadn’t even bothered to at least see how Louis was? He’d been the one practically pressing beers into his hand. But then, he was probably busy. Probably had work or something. 

“So why are you here?” 

Liam shrugs, glances at him and looked away. “I stayed overnight too. We’re the only ones left. Thought I’d help Harry clean up.”

Louis struggles up and puts his head in his hands. “Oh, god,” he groans as a wave of nausea washes over him. Liam comes over to press a pill and a glass of water into his hands. “Fast acting Tylenol,” he says in reply to the questioning look. Then he can’t hold back a laugh; Louis' bedhead is ridiculous. “Sorry mate, but you look awful.”

“Wow, thanks,” Lou mutters. He wonders why Liam is so chipper. Doesn't he drink? _Lame_. “Niall didn’t say where he’d gone? He didn’t pass on any messages?”

The smile leaves Liam’s face. “Nope. Sorry.”

“Whatever.” Louis stretches like a cat and sits up. 

“You hungry? I found cereal, there’s toast – “

“No,” Louis says. “Thanks.” Then, “Why are you still here? I don’t even know you.”

Liam pauses. “You don’t know Niall either.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Lou snaps. "I mean, fuck, it's not like we're dating.” He really can’t deal with anything right now. As Liam watches him, a little confused, Lou lies his head back and closes his eyes, and before he realizes it he's asleep, thinking of Niall’s hot mouth on his own.

When Louis wakes up again a few hours later, he finds the Tylenol bottle and a piece of toast on the bedside table. Harry’s sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee in his hands and his hair a royal mess. He doesn’t seem to be at all surprised to see Louis. Most days, Lou practically lives here; it’s way closer to their university, and Louis hates having to get up the extra hour early in order to make it to school on time from his own flat. 

“Thanks,” he says, nodding at the stuff. 

“Wasn’t me.” Harry shakes his head. “Liam, probably. Made me breakfast.”

Louis feels a rush of regret when he thinks of Liam, remembering that he’d been kinda shitty earlier on. Lou is most definitely not easy to deal with in the morning, especially if he's got a hangover. But he pushes it to the back of his mind - he's probably never going to see the guy again, except glimpses around campus.

“So you liked Niall, eh?” Harry asks knowingly, dumping spoonfuls of sugar in his coffee.

“He’s pretty hot,” Louis admits. He tries to conceal a grin, but it slips out. He thinks back to the night before, and realizes he really can't remember much. A burning question raises itself. "Wait, did we - "

Harry grins cheekily. "I kicked you guys out of my room before you could - you know. I mean, on my bed, Lou? That's gross."

"We were drunk."

"Even I wasn't that drunk. And yeah, Niall's hot, but - "

“What?”  
A defensive tone creeps into Louis' voice. He can't help it. 

Harry shakes his head. “Nevermind. He’s hot, you make your own judgements.”

“I will, thanks, Harry. Do you have his number?”

"He didn't leave it for you?"

"We were _drunk_. He would've given it to me." 

Harry shrugs and pushes his phone over. “Add Liam too.”

“What? Why?"

He shrugs again. "He's a good friend to have."

"He seems very uptight."

"Just -" Harry puts his head in his hands. "Louis, you are being very difficult right now, and _fuck_ , my head, so let's not talk anymore right now, okay?"

"Fine." Lou taps his fingers against the table, and then Harry peeks out from his curls. "But, okay, you have to admit it - that was an _awesome_ party, right?"

Louis laughs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes, i am so sorry, niall is a total jerk in this story. don't hate me.


	4. Chapter 4

“Hey,” someone says, opening the front door. It’s Liam, of course. 

“Hey,” Zayn replies, looking over from the couch. “Come play video games.”

“Yeah, one sec, I’ll go make tea.”

He comes back a few minutes later with a mug in his hands, and hands one over to his flatmate. 

“Good party?” Zayn asks. He would’ve gone, but he'd had work. 

“It was alright.”

They’re silent for a bit, and Zayn knows something’s up, but he’s wondering if he should just wait or ask. Liam sits there taking tiny sips of his tea, his eyes unfocused on the violent video game that Zayn’s playing in one-player mode. Usually Liam joins him, and gets way too into the games, but not today. Somethng must have happened at the party. Zayn knows it’ll spill out sooner or later; it always does with Liam. So he keeps playing, until:

“He called me yesterday.”

"Oh, shit." Zayn sighs and puts down the controller. “Mate, why did you even answer?”

Liam snorts. “I didn’t even know it was him. Harry changed all my contacts to That 70s Show characters. You got Fez.” He smiles but it fades. “I avoided him at the party. But then when he got home he called me. He was drunk. Niall, I mean.”

Of course it was Niall. Who else would it have been? Zayn holds in a sigh. “What did he say?”

“He still – I mean – he still loves me.”

Fuck. 

It was such a vicious cycle the two of them went through, Liam and Niall. Liam had never been in a relationship with anyone before he’d met Niall, never kissed anyone, and when Niall came along, Liam fell for him hard, head first. And Niall was awful to Liam - not in a physical way, but in the way he called Liam just enough to make him hopeful, came over to hook up every so often, made him feel special. And just when Liam thought he was getting over him, just when Liam's friends would convince him he needed to _move on ___, Niall would call him up with some shit like “I still love you” and the whole cycle would continue.

There was something about Niall that drew people to him, made people fall in love with him easily. And Niall knew it. Used it to his advantage. Liam was starting to realize it, too. Just starting to realize how poisonous their relationship was. But then stuff like this happened and Zayn always had to sit and listen to it and there was nothing he could really do to help his friend. It sucked. 

Zayn puts a hand on the back of Liam’s neck. Softly, he says, “He was drunk. It might – it probably didn’t mean anything. I thought you said you were going to stop thinking about him.” 

It hurt to be mean to him, this boy who wouldn't hurt a fly, but it hurt even more to see him come home after meeting Niall with that hopeful giddy smile on his face, only to be crushed a few days later after seeing Niall out with another guy and getting some bullshit “you know we’re not exclusive” line. 

"I'm _not ___thinking about him," Liam scowls. Zayn knows he's lying.

__"Did you - say something back to him?"_ _

__"I hung up." At that a hint of a smirk shows itself on Liam's face. "I would have loved to see his reaction." So would Zayn. You don't just hang up on Niall Horan. But then the smirk falls away and Liam is back to being a sad lovesick puppy and Zayn sighs yet again._ _

__"Just - " Zayn feels awkward. He doesn't know how to give this sort of advice. "Just keep avoiding him. You don't need him."_ _

__"Yeah. I'll try."_ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i dont really know where i'm going with this dudes. maybe leave some plot ideas if you want? :)


End file.
